Marking the Origins
by EmelieBane
Summary: Altean!Lance. Lance discovers something about himself and needs to tell the group. Bit of LanceXLotor. Thanks to Shiranai Atsune for requesting this!


Lance hated the two marks on his face. There was a time in which he liked them, were fascinated by them, but his view changed over the years. When he was younger, he would look at them in the mirror, standing on a stool with his father's help, and stared in wonder at them. Two blue slightly curved, thick, lines, almost like paint marks, near his cheekbones. When he asked his parents about them, they would brush him off. They would tell him that he was born with them, and he was beautiful. At the time, Lance believed it. From time to time these marks would glow, making Lance feel special. Like those superheros he saw on television and in the movie theatre. The difference between them and him, Lance learned, was that they had powers and he didn't.

It was third grade when Lance received the first negative remark. Lance had known that the other kids in his class thought he was different but for the most part they didn't point out the marks. Lance was coloring with his friends for a group project. They were given permission to go outside of the classroom to work on it, which was extra cool for them. They set up the poster board, the markers, the paper, the colored construction paper. When they were all settled, another group was given permission to work outside. It was one of the kids in the second group that said it.

"What are those weird marks on your face?" One of them had said.

"He's like a gross alien!" Another pointed at them.

Lance's group members didn't, couldn't, do anything. When the teacher consoled the crying eight year old, Lance was sobbing too hard to talk. The nicknames came close after that. Crying Alien, Alien Boy, Freak, and so on.

Lance switched school districts when he went to high school. He started using makeup that his mother bought him to cover up the marks when he went to school. He could start fresh. He wouldn't be a freak anymore. Lance was thrilled when he made friends on the first day, even more so when his teachers referred his parents to enroll him at the Garrison. He knew there was something different about him and he kept projecting onto explanations that didn't include him being an Alien.

At the Garrison he was bunking away from home for the first time. Lance stopped going to sleepovers around grade six due the comments his friends and peers made. But this time was different, Lance kept thinking. This time Lance had makeup to cover up his markings. He could make friends and be normal. Pidge and Hunk never suspected he was different. They didn't even question why Lance had makeup; Hunk asked why Lance didn't share. Lance felt like he truly belonged for the first time in years.

Lance's fascination with Allura and Coran began when he saw the marks on their faces. They were similar to his; Allura's were pink and Coran's were blue, just like Lance's. Despite this, he continued to cover up the marks. He wasn't sure what the meaning behind them were, except that he was apparently Altean. This didn't make sense; both his parents were from earth. His brothers and sisters were not Altean; at least, they didn't have the marks. His parents didn't have marks, so they couldn't be Altean. How could they not tell Lance about his marks? They would always avoid the subject and redirect the conversation, leaving Lance with questions. So, when Coran had mentioned that the Paladins had access to the library aboard the Castle, Lance took this as an opportunity to research as much as he could. After learning a bit about Altea from Coran and Allura, Lance spent his free time researching. He tried looking for a reason for the marks, what they meant. He was hoping for some explanation as to why HE had them. Luckily there was a gigantic book on the history of the Altean people and bloodlines. Lance read for days, collectively and sparsely. His efforts did not come up with any explanation. The closest he got was when he found a group of Alteans that, in the interest of exploration, went to Earth. There wasn't much recorded about it except for a description of the Alteans who went. Lance was bummed out, to say the least.

Lance realized, after coming back from a night of reading, that his makeup was starting to come off. Lance had been covering up for so long that he was almost able to sense when his makeup was coming off. Now that Lance had his own room, he would shower and not apply makeup unless there was a scheduled activity for the group afterward. He woke up the next morning and panicked. He was running low on makeup. He had enough for a few days. But there was no equivalent that Lance came across on their journeys. He figured he would have to tell the group eventually, but Lance wasn't ready. He never had been and didn't know if he ever truly would be.

The following day, the group was having a relaxing day after a battle with the Galra. Voltron had defeated a team of Galrans that were trying to take over a planet called Onyxious. In return for saving their people, the Onyxians gave the Paladins, Allura, and Coran as much time at their version of a spa as they liked. Keith ditched the group for a massage. Shiro chose to get something similar to acupuncture. Hunk and Pidge decided to hit up the hot springs. Allura and Coran were looking at all the services while ance was trying to decide too.

"Lance, excellent work out there," Allura commented. "You are really honing your skills with the Blue Lion."

Lance blushed as he wasn't used to being complimented.

"Thanks Allura… I had something I wanted to ask you…."

Allura perked up a little at this. "Oh?"

"I was wondering if there was any way I could contact home… I've been really missing my parents and my siblings. Does communication stretch that far?"

If Lance couldn't find answers in the Library, he would have to ask his parents. If he could contact them. Lance wasn't sure how comfortable he would be telling the group about the marks, since he has been keeping it from them for all this time.

Allura gave him a pained expression and Lance knew the answer. He mentally prepared for what came next. Lance checked to see if anyone else was in the room; he wanted to tell Allura and Coran first.

"I wish we could do something more for you all to contact your families. But we are many, uh, earth light years away. Have you talked to any of the others about missing your family?"

Lance scratched his head, not meeting her eyes. "No."

"I know Pidge is homesick; maybe you and her can relate to one another and help each other?" Allura suggested. Lance hadn't thought about it.

"Thanks Allura," Lance said sincerely. Allura told Lance that he could talk to her about anything, she would be there if he needed. Lance was grateful for her friendship and guidance. He turned to leave and was almost out the door when he took a deep breath in, spun back around on his heels, and exhaled.

"Hey Allura?" Lance called, voice trembling. He was going to do it, no matter how nervous it made him. Allura looked back at him from the control board.

"Yes Lance?"

Lance was shaking.

"I have been, uh, hiding something from the group and am afraid that I am going to have to tell them soon."

"Oh?" Allura said, intrigued.

"I'm Altean." Lance blurted out. Whatever Allura was expecting it wasn't that.

"Oh?!" She sounded taken back, yet not fully surprised. Lance waited a few beats due to not knowing what to say. He looked down at his shoes, scratching his head again.

"I don't know how I am, but I have these marks on my cheeks that match Coran and yours. I currently cover them with makeup… I am running out and want answers to how/why I am Altean."

Lance gave a brief explanation to Allura about his history, keeping the bullying in his childhood vague. He told her about his research mission, coming up with almost nothing. Except for the Alteans that came to Earth. At this, Allura told him that while she was young and doesn't really remember, Coran would probably have information. Allura went onto the communication system and paged Coran. He entered the room in a few minutes, stacks of books in his arms.

"Hey Princess, Hello Lance!" He greeted. "What are you two doing? How are you?"

Coran placed the books down and beamed at the other two. After reading the room, his energy level dropped. "Did you need anything?"

"Lance was just telling me about some research he was doing regarding our history and he had some inquiries I figured you could answer much better than I." Allura turned to Lance, gesturing for him to start talking.

"I have Altean marks I have been covering up. I think I am Altean" The second time around, saying it was easier. Maybe it will get easier as he told more people. Lance hoped that was the case. Coran stood there for a moment, his expression unmoved.

"You do have a similar bone structure," Coran replied, his eyes now examining Lance's being. "Why were you covering them up?"

Lance let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I, uh…" He looked over at Allura, hoping she would get the message and take over over.

"Lance just told me…" Allura explained to Coran what had just been explained to her. Coran nodded throughout. Allura left it up to Lance to explain why Coran was needed now. Lance explained that he would have more knowledge about a clue he found. The older Altean suggested they head to the Library for some privacy, and Lance agreed.

In the library, Lance showed him the book about the explorers who came to Earth. Coran instantly recognized a few of the people.

"Ah!" He said. "I was friends with Pezle. He and I went to Altean school together. He and his girlfriend, later wife, Greliorn were studying the biology of other species across the galaxy. They wanted to see if they could find different ways to heal people. While we were in school, they were looking into gene placement experimentation as a source of healing, as well as using and mixing healing techniques from different cultures. By the time their friends and fellow biologists graduated, alongside Alfor and I, they had many theories. A few years later, when Alfor was crowned king, it was discovered that they had a secret lab where they experimented on people. King Alfor banished them from Altea, as their methods were corrupt. They would get volunteers, the sick and desperate, and tell them it was temporary. The living conditions were horrible and they were held captive. They kept a record of their experiments and brought it with them to Earth. However, a few Earth years ago, they were attacked. I don't know what happened, just that I received a large box with all their recordings. I just started going through it in my spare time a few a few Phoebs ago. If you want, I can skip to the Earth chronicles to see if there is anything?"

Lance was giddy with joy to the point that he was shaking. He profusely thanked Coran and asked if he could read them to Lance. Coran agreed and they decided to start in the break after supper.

Lance was excited and nervous to find out if there was an answer to the question of where his marks came from. He decided since he still had Coran alone, he would ask about the marks.

"Coran? What do the different marks mean? What are their purpose?"

Coran beams. "Excellent question! You could think of them as a sort of morality check of sorts. The shorter the marks, the less corrupted. The longer the marks, and they way they form onto your face, the more corrupt an Altean is. Everyone has a little bit of darkness in them, and that's why the marks exist. On Allura and I, I guess, they mean we are not corrupted. This corruption has to come from yourself, not an outer force."

Lance nodded. His marks were the same size and shape as Coran's and he felt relieved.

That evening, Coran found Lance in his room. Lance had been reading an Earth book in a language (Spanish) that Coran wasn't familiar with. He waltzed into the room, found a comfy spot on the bed, and laid out the Earth Chronicles. Lance put away his reading material and paced as Coran read out loud to him. It took Coran a few minutes to figure out the formatting. Lance explained how human days worked, how there were months and years. He looked at the report and, while the writing was in Altean, it was catalogued similarly to how Earth records would be. By date. Each journal was a different subject. Lance told the other Altean to look for a date close to when he was born. Coran found three, and started reading them. He started out loud but, at the one in which Lance identified his mother's name was recorded in, Coran stopped.

"Lance, are you sure you are ready?"

"Yes Coran. I want to know the answer to what I have been asking for many years." Lance said firmly.

"It says here that your mother and father came to see the lab the Alteans set up due to an illness your mother had while pregnant with you. She was weak and dying, the doctors didn't know what it was. You father was desperate. The Alteans decided to save you before the mother. In order to beat the ailment, they mixed your DNA with theirs and then subjected your mother to an illness that, essentially, ate the one your mother had and started to spread. It was an illness from another species that Alteans are immune to. They then treated that in your mother. She was cured and you were saved. And you were Altean. They let her go after, since they did not want to try birthing a human baby."

Lance stood there and processed the information. Even though he had an answer now, he still had many questions. What was the illness his mother had? How did his older siblings not remember this? Why didn't his parents tell him about his own past? Lance didn't know he had tears forming in his eyes, until he felt the older man embrace him.

"It's ok Lance. Did you want some space to process?"

Lance simply nodded.

The day came shortly after where Lance was running out of makeup. They had yet to find a space equivalent; Coran and Allura were on a secret mission to find it when they were resting on different planets. Despite the diversity of the various places, their societies seemed to have no matching substance. Lance decided it was best to tell the crew at supper when everyone was there.

Hunk made a pretty bland dish that evening, mostly due to the fact they had been flying in space and hadn't stopped anywhere long enough to collect food. He passed the plates out the the current crew. Pidge, Keith, Shiro, Lotor, Allura, Coran, and Lance. Everyone started eating right away except for the Blue Paladin. He swirled the goo around his bowl, taking small bites. His stomach churned. He was afraid of what they would all think. That they would be mad for keeping it a secret. That they would see him as an experiment, if he told them about the way he became Altean. He was afraid of any type of rejection that could follow. He group seemed to accept Keith being part Galra, then they might accept Lance being half Altean and not telling them.

The group was silent for most of the meal. They had small talk; ever since Lotor joined there had been a weird tension amongst them during dinner. Lance recalled Hunk talking to him during training about how he wasn't sure how to feel about Lotor's advances on both Allura and Lance. Lance told Hunk that Lotor was probably just being nice, to which Hunk was not convinced.

"Hey Lance buddy?" Hunk said suddenly, bring Lance out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You've barely ate any food goo and you keep stirring it around." He pointed out. Lance took a deep breath.

"Yeah, um, I've have something to tell you guys."

This caught everyone's attention. He looked over at Allura and Coran, who gave him supportive looks. He took a deep, shaking breath. Where should he start?

"When my mom was pregnant with me she was ill she went to a clinic that aliens ran and they cured her but to do that they needed to mix my genes with Altean genes and well…." he said. Lance took out the makeup wipe and scrubbed off the substance covering his marks. He didn't open his eyes, too afraid to see their faces. And to keep the tears in.

"Wait… so you are Altean?" Hunk asked after the silence.

"Yes," Lance said softly. He felt someone touch his shoulder, squeazing it reassuringly.

"It's okay," Lotor said gently. Lance felt himself blush a little. Lotor was comforting him.

"That's cool! Do you have any powers?" Pidge asked. That made Lance chuckle in relief. He wiped his eyes and met his squad's expressions. Keith was shocked but didn't seem repulsed. Shiro was smiling at Lance, Pidge looked more analytical, as if she had various questions she wanted to ask but not sure what order to ask. Hunk looked mostly concerned but Lance knew him enough to know it was concern about how Lance was feeling about telling them. Lotor was a different story. There was something in his eye that made Lance have strange feelings. His was more interest and desire than anything else.

"Not that I know of… I haven't tried."

"How did we not know?" Pidge asked, then her face lit up.

"OH! That's why you always had makeup at the Garrison!" Pidge exclaimed.

Keith passed Lance a tissue to wipe his face.

"I'm glad you told us Lance. This might actually give us an advantage," Shiro said. Out of all the comments, this one caught him off guard.

"Huh?"

"If you have similar powers to Allura, or any powers at all, then we can use that. You are another person who has powers."

"It would add to the team and you can have more skills at your disposal," Lotor said, taking his hand away. Lance went red.

"We are excited to start exploring your Altean history Lance," Allura said. "Coran mentioned to me before dinner about looking into your lineage. They have who you received genes from and that may impact your powers."

"I told them before telling you guys because I wanted more information," He looked at Coran pointedly. Luckily he took this as a hint to start talking he explained what happened, including the research. While Coran was talking, Lance started actually eating his food.

"Why did you decide to tell us now?" Pidge asked after Coran finished.

"I am running out of makeup," Lance truthfully answered.

"Alright, enough questions for today guys," Shiro said. "We are probably bombarding him and that was a stressful thing to do."

Lance was relieved, as he was getting a little overwhelmed. In both a good and bad way. He was glad everyone was cool with it, which made him overwhelmed with joy; however the questions were too much. He wanted time to think about some of them, and the possibilities of him having powers. He hadn't thought of that.

The group dispersed, the Alteans deciding to follow up on Lance's powers the next day. Lance headed to him room, being the last one out of the dining area. A certain half-Altean was at the door waiting for him. Lotor smiled slyly when Lance approached. Lance was flustered by the Prince. He was a bit intimidating, standing taller than him.

"It seems that you have quite the genes," Lotor said, an undertone to the comment Lance wasn't sure how to interpret.

"Heh, I guess…" Lance said awkwardly.

"I knew you were special Lance from the moment I saw you. Maybe it was your Altean genes that have been drawing me to you."

Lance was frozen. He didn't know what to do, how to respond. Lotor got closer and Lance could could intake Lotor's being with almost all his senses. His smell was almost intoxicating. It wasn't obvious to him before, but Lance knew for sure now that Lotor was into him.

"I love your upbeat take on things. How you never give up despite the consequences. You are the best Paladin, the deepest Paladin, and the most attractive Paladin. If you do not feel the same way about me, just say the word and I will back off."

Lotor's eyes were to the ground, his air of confidence diminished. Lance felt drawn to him.

"Uh, Lotor? I may be struggling with some self issues right now but there are a few things I know for certain. I am bisexual, I am single, and I want, well, you."

"Should we take this inside?" Lotor slyly said, seductively. The two men made eye contact before Lance opened the door for Lotor, gesturing for him to enter.

"Okay Lance. To activate your possible powers, the key is to focus on what you want to do and putting in mental energy." Allura explained. "When I want to look Galran, I visualize what I would look like if I were Galran."

Allura demonstrated. She closed her eyes; her skin turned the signature deep mauve, she grew in heights, and her features became sharper. Allura opened her eyes and smiled at the new Altean.

"Now you try!" she beamed.

Lance closed his eyes. He kept his mind on the tone of the skin, the height he would be, how his features would change. Allura squealed in delight. Lance opened his eyes and saw in the mirror Coran brought in a Galran-looking version of himself. Lance yelped in delight, doing a little dance.

"Excellent Lance!" Allura beamed "You got that faster than I did!"

Lance hoped the color going into his cheeks was covered by the purple shade of his skin. He reversed the process, focusing on what he normally looked like, and couldn't help smiling to himself.

"What else can you do?" Lance asked.

"Well…" Allura took a a dagger off of the rack. She made a small cut, just enough to bleed, on her hand. With the other hand, she placed it over the injured one and closed her eyes. A blue light shined bright in the space between the two hands. Allura revealed her healed hand. She made another small wound and extended her hand to Lance.

"Now you try. It's similar to transformation. Picture my hand but healed."

Lance grabbed on, placing one hand palm-down. Nothing.

"This one takes a while to learn how to do." Allura assured him. Lance dropped her hand after his mind was worn out. She ordered Lotor to come over; Lotor who was quietly watching from the doorway. Allura got Lotor to lie down on the floor and he obeyed, but he wasn't amused. Lance asked what she was doing but Allura told him to just watch. Her hands glowed, she placed them on Lotor's head, took them off when they glowed brighter, and placed them onto the head of Kaltenecker. The cow talked, Lotor's voice coming out. Lance cackled with joy.

"This will also take a while to learn," she said through a yawn. "It has a tremendous tax on your body."

Allura told Lance to go rest, as using his powers could be draining. She was tired after taking Lotor out of himself, but Lance had to help Lotor carry Allura to her room after the Galran Prince was returned to his own body. Lance retired to his room until supper.

Lance walked away from the session feeling things he hadn't felt in a while; self-love, acceptance, and that he had something to offer Voltron and the Universe.

 **A/N: Shoutout to Shiranai Atsune for giving me this prompt. Let me know if you liked it and if you have any suggestions!**


End file.
